Shhh....

-
Today is Nyepi Day in Bali. Nyepi means Silence and it's a day of exactly that - total silence, seclusion & meditation which is also the 1st day of the Balinese New Year.

Everything stops on this day, even the airport is closed. People are expected to stay home - no work, no nothing and we're not allowed to have the lights on. Visitors are expected to respect this day as a holy day. The only people on the streets are the police making sure no one's out and about and inspecting homes ensuring their lights are not on. They take this very seriously. Some say that these prohibitions are intended to trick any lingering evil spirits into thinking the island is abandoned and for them to return to the underworld. Interesting yeah?

However, the hotels in Bali are allowed to operate as usual but guests are not allowed to leave the hotel grounds - government regulations. So a lot of hotels around Bali do special Nyepi deals for tourists as well as locals and they come with special activities planned around the hotel on this day. Most come with breakfast, lunch & dinner so it's a pretty good deal.

Last year Ayisha & I were in Malaysia for Nyepi and Michael stayed home in the dark by himself. This year, being the last week we're gonna be here and wanting to take advantage of our visa that considers us as locals/domestic for the last time, we decided to stay in a hotel in Nusa Dua. Ok, we don't want to stay home in the dark lah!

The day before Nyepi, most roads were starting to close for the colourful procession & effigies - called Ogoh-ogoh. We planned to see the parade of these Ogoh-ogoh that we've been seeing glimpses of in temples around Bali days before but in Nusa Dua it started at 8pm and Ayisha was ready for bed (us too) so we gave it a miss.


with an Ogoh-ogoh

We just spent this morning queuing up for the breakfast buffet - we've never had to queue up for this before, the hotel's fully booked! Then we took Ayisha to the kid's club & the pool. Tomorrow, we're having Freyjah over to play, yippee!! Then back home and continue packing, yucks!


In the meantime, we're just going to stay put & be as quiet as we can. Do nothing? I love it!

Comments

potpetmama said…
Ms Yan, actually i ni ur silent reader..nam minta pndgan, kalau nak ke bali, which is the best area to stay..tq
23 March 2012 at 18:04
IntanRizal said…
they had this nyepi day on 23/3 every year??? might want to check the date maybe to plan for future trip..
23 March 2012 at 20:11
Yan said…
potpetmama: thanks for reading! Best area depending on what you want to do, i guess. if you want lots of action, Kuta. Laid back, slow paced - Sanur. Upmarket villa & shops - seminyak. something secluded - nusa due, all these close to beach. Kalau more into arts & culture, no need beach - stay ubud. Myself, I like Sanur. quite close to everywhere n not as hectic as Kuta!

Intan: it's different date every year by few days, ikut their calendar...
23 March 2012 at 21:24
GM said…
i need nyepi days in the house...too loud! ;)
31 March 2012 at 17:08
Yan said…
K.Ijah: heheh...mintak kat Aji please!!! nanti kite tolong hint2 gak..:p
6 April 2012 at 02:05
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Last Week

-
Image
I went for my last check-up yesterday. Everything's good. The baby has definitely turned and is facing the right direction. The heartbeat & movements are strong and there's not enough room for him to move all the way back up again. Just to stretch, kick and punch like crazy.   I also got my Group B Strep (GBS) results and just like my 1st pregnancy, it came back positive. I'm not sure if they do this test anywhere else but what it means is that I'd have to be on antibiotics during labour. It's actually a type of bacteria that about a quarter of women carry in the vagina and there's no symptoms. It doesn't affect me at all but can be quite harmful for the baby apparently. So the antibiotics are necessary to help prevent it being transferred to the baby.   I do have another check-up scheduled for the next 2 weeks, just in case the baby decided to hang around & chill in my belly for a bit longer but the midwife said because Ayisha came quite o...
Read more

Introducing Our Lil'Un - 1 Week Old

-
Image
A week ago, on Monday the 29th June 2009 at 12.03pm our lil'un arrived out of my watermelon tummy weighing 2.95kg, measuring 51cm. YES! It's a girl!! Meet our lil precious one, Ayisha Claire Laidler: I think she has a lot of ME in her ;))) And MAYBE Michael's ears lah. :p She arrived on 40 weeks +1 day, according to the scan & my calendar count, due date was 28th June. But i just realized that Dr Chan's due date on my medical card has always been the 29th June. So yeah, he can have the bragging rights. :p I can't believe it's been a week. I really do wanna take the time and write everything that i can remember right from the start because i had such a wonderful experience having her, i don't ever wanna forget it. But that would have to be spread out over many many posts. I dunno how long i have till Ayisha's up again for a feed and today is the first day i felt i have some me time without feeling too tired and aching everywhere. My parents ...
Read more

Presenting...

-
Image
The next Squeaky!!!! A lot of you guys are absolutely correct! We are going to be a family of 4 by May next year, Insya'Allah. :) We've had 'the code' on our fridge for the last few months but people who came to visit and saw it couldn't guess the right answer. So, bravo bravo bravo!!!! :))) And thank you for the wishes too, we're very very excited! I am 3 months pregnant now and just had my 1st scan few days ago in KL. Looks pretty much similar to Squeaky's 1st scan but I think the nose is not as flat.heheehehh The whole experience is very different than when I had Ayisha, except for the morning sickness. Urgh..I forgot how horrible morning sicknesses can be. By the way, it should be called all day sickness too. I was weak, nauseous & blergh the whole day most of the time and really not up to doing anything. Then the 2nd trimester came and I don't know if it's a mental thing or what but the nausea has somewhat subsided and I think I'...
Read more